Alchindus was an Arabian doctor living during the 11th century.
Some viewed him as being among a number of magicians while other describe
him only as a superstitious writer. He used charm
words and combinations of figures when curing patients, which caused demonologists
to proclaim the devil was responsible for his powers. These claims were
partially based on the fact Alchindus wrote a book entitled The Theory of
Magic Arts. However, it is suspected that the work might not contained anything
more formidable than natural philosophy, at a time when all matters of science
and philosophy were held in suspicion.

It is true; some of his theories were magical in nature. An example of
this was his explanation of the phenomena of dreams. Alchindus said dreams
were the work of elementals who acted
their strange fantasies out before the mind of the sleeper as actors play
on the stage in a theater. The only thing that connected the author with
the practice of magic was the title of his work, and not its contents. A.G.H.